Let Darkness Reign
by Mate-4-Life
Summary: Alright I had an idea while watching a video on YouTube for this ff, I quite like the idea but I don't know whether you'll like this or not. I hope you do. It's set in the 6th year and follows the story of the 6th year but with a bit of a twist.
1. Secrets in the Shadows

'so, back to school next week Draco, are you ready?'

'you mean back to the friends, back to the lies, back to the undying torture of the lessons? 'course! Why shouldn't I be?' Draco replied

'speaking of friends' Hermione told him nodding over his shoulder and past the pile of books blocking them from the view of most of the shop, Draco turned around, Pansy Parkinson was looking around at another pile of books close by.

'and there's Weaslebee and Pot-head, right on cue. we better split' Draco told her

'alright, see you at school' Hermione told him quietly as he already began to retreat. Strangely he avoided Pansy and met his mother at the other side of the store who was carrying a pile of his school books recently paid for.

'Mione, there you are' Harry said spotting her as he came to look at the pile of books she was hidden behind 'what are you doing back here?'

'nothing' Hermione told him quickly, 'looking at the books, be right back' she picked up a random book that looked interesting and went to the ancient runes section to see what she had picked up and to get her new books. She looked over at Draco now leaving the shop, he looked anxious and suddenly tense.

Draco left the shop with his mother, and walked through the partially derelict street, the monstrously striking, unaffected Weasley's Wizard Wheezes store caught his attention but he continued walking, feeling no more relaxed than when he had left Flourish and Blotts, although more stressed.

'we have 10 minutes Draco' his mother told him, snapping him out of his trance-like state 'we should get you fitted for some more robes before going'

'yes mother' he agreed, happy for the extra time but stressed for the longer wait. He followed her to Madam Malkin's robe shop, he started by looking around at the new styles in and chose some new robes before getting fitted.

Eventually he left with barely a minute to get to the thing that had been making him so nervous for weeks. As his mother lead him out onto the street he checked around them, making sure there was nobody watching and followed his mother down Knocturn Alley.

Before he knew it he was pushing open the door to Borgin and Burkes, inside there was a small party of people waiting for them.

'you're late' one person growled from the corner as Draco closed the door firmly behind him. A particularly hairy man walked out of the shadows, Fenrir Greyback, the wanted werewolf.

'we had to make sure we weren't being followed' Narcissa Malfoy told him timidly, Draco knew he had to keep his nerve or be judged and watched like a hawk throughout his mission and so forced himself to speak

'where's the cabinet?'

'over here Mr Malfoy, sir' Mr Borgin ushered him over to a tall black, triangular cabinet which reached close to the ceiling of the small shop. Draco touched it, the cold of the metal iced his skin, the texture slowly became familiar and he knew he would recognise it even if he couldn't see.

x Meanwhile x

'Harry? Is it just me or do Draco and mummy look like two people who don't want to be followed?' Ron asked the derelict wand shop they were standing in. Harry and Hermione walked over to the window where Ron was standing in time to see Draco and his mother disappearing down Knocturn Alley. Hermione's heart pinged, what was going on and why didn't he tell her? He looked more tense than he had ever done before, and was clearly the reason he left the shop avoiding Pansy earlier. She couldn't help it as her self-control left her body, she started running out of shop and slammed into the wall nearest the entrance to Knocturn alley, arms stretched in front of her to take the impact. Just as she hugged the wall and leant around the corner, watching Draco walk down the end of the alley way it dawned on her what she had done, slowly she turned her head, Ron and Harry were pressed against the opposite side of the alleyway, Ron's expression clearly told her that he thought Harry had initiated the chase with Hermione only following in hot pursuit. She let out her breathe and stared down the alleyway again, Draco rounded the far corner and she made a point of taking after Harry's steps as he ran down the alleyway slamming onto the next wall. She felt Ron's breathe on her hair moving it slowly by her ears and turned to face him, he looked at her and moved slightly so he wasn't disturbing her, she peered around the corner to see Draco entering a close by shop 'Borgin and Burkes' she was now certain Draco hadn't mentioned this to her earlier.

'now how do we see what he's up to?' Harry asked annoyed, he scanned the alleyway with his eyes, nobody was around and there was a loose overhanging drain pipe on the nearest building. Hermione had already spotted it but didn't mention the roof, Harry figured it out for himself not long after.

'We're going on the roof, Ron give me a leg up, would ya?' Ron offered his hand and Harry stepped onto it as he gripped the gutter and pulled himself onto the roof, Hermione and Ron followed, Hermione first as Ron was taller. Hermione pulled herself along the sloped roof beside Harry, they had a clear view into the shop. Draco was talking to somebody in the darkness. Suddenly they appeared just in view, a hairy man like a half transformed werewolf, Hermione recognised him and instinctively flicked a look at a nearby poster "_WANTED! FENRIR GREYBACK! DANGEROUS WEREWOLF! ESCAPED FROM AZKABAN, BELIEVED TO BE A DEATHEATER! REWARD 500 GALLEONS _"

'Oh no, Draco, what are you doing?' Hermione thought to herself, she watched in fear as she expected the werewolf to lash out at him but oddly he let Draco pass, he walked to another man that she hadn't noticed and turned to look around the shop. He reached out and touched a triangular object. The werewolf took out his wand and made his way towards Draco

'oh no Draco look out!' Hermione thought fearfully, her eyes were watering, she wouldn't let any tears fall as she didn't know what was happening but she couldn't stop herself from letting out a gasp of fear. The boys looked at her from either side but she kept her eyes fixed on the scene in front of her. Suddenly a body appeared in front of the window, she slid herself down the roof quickly, hoping not to be seen. The boys followed suit but Hermione let go of the roof top a little too much in her panic and slid down the side of the building. Eventually she fell off of the roof partially tripping on the loose gutter and fell to the ground with a squeal.

'Hermione!' The guys said quietly shocked carefully jumping off of the roof too, 'are you okay?'

'yeah of course, sorry' Hermione said 'lets get out of here they might've heard us' they left the alleyway quietly and got back to their shopping, but Draco was playing on Hermione's mind, 'Is Draco okay? Please be okay! What was he doing?'


	2. Worried for you

Later that day Draco left Borgin and Burkes with his mother, he had a hole in his heart worried about what he had done and what now lay ahead of him. His arm was burning where his dark mark had now been for several weeks. At least he didn't have to do anything for the next few weeks.

'have we got everything?' Narcissa asked Draco as they reached Diagon alley again, he considered

'yeah, I think so. Can we just go?' Draco asked wanting to leave this place as he knew the deatheaters were still inhabiting it somewhere.

Darkness fell over the Malfoy mansion, Draco had once again shut himself away into his large room. He spent a lot of his time in here now, trying to think things over and find some logic or reason to what he's agreed to do.

Bang!

Scratch, scratch, scratch

Woof!

Draco went over to his bedroom door, and opened it slightly. Immediately a large dog bounded in and directly onto Draco's king-sized bed which Draco had just got off of.

'hello boy' Draco said closing the door again, 'want to keep me company do you? Or just want to sleep on my bed?' the dark-coloured husky wagged its tail thumping it on the bed to either side of it's body. Draco sat on the bed too and stroked the dog's head.

'do you have any idea what's going on in this house boy? You should be glad if you don't… I wish I could just tell somebody about it all, get it out my mind, and sort out the thoughts of it. Know what I mean? of course not, you're a dog. It's just how many secrets I'm keeping to myself, the friendship with Hermione which no-one can know about; even though it is only a friendship, being a follower of the dark lord and then there's upholding the 'family pride'… honestly Nemesis, you've got it easy wagging your tail around here, you could be shouting secrets and we wouldn't be any the wiser.' Draco continued talking to his pet into the early morning, eventually falling asleep as the dog slept near his feet.

The next morning Draco was woken up by a scratching and hooting at the window. He rolled over, Nemesis was now sitting beside the window looking up at the little owl, one neither of them had ever seen before. It was pecking the window and dragging it's tiny beak down the glass making a terrible squeaking sound. Draco climbed out of bed, covering his ears as he got closer and closer to the glass and the sound. He opened the glass making the small owl fly back quickly and back again directly at Draco's head, he ducked and if flew inside.

'who are you?' he asked it, the bird was circling his head 'get out of here, pest!' he swatted at the bird and it zoomed off further into the room. It landed on his dresser and Draco finally caught sight of the letter on it's leg. He pulled the letter out of the tiny, badly kept carrying case on it's leg.

'Draco Malfoy' it said in tiny, neat purple inked letters. He knew exactly who had sent it. He forgot about the tiny owl and opened the letter, curious about what Hermione had to say:

"_Draco,_

_You looked worried yesterday, what was wrong?_

_I couldn't believe it when our friends interrupted,_

_I'm worried._

_Write back,_

_Hermione x_

_P.S. the owl is Ron's, I'm staying at his house for the rest of the summer, use your own owl to reply if you must but Draco, just reply."_

Draco folded up the letter and stuck it into his inside pocket. He looked up at his dresser, the little owl was making itself comfortable.

'Weaslebee's owl? seriously 'Mione?' he asked himself aloud 'Get out!' he added to the owl angrily trying to swat it with the back of his hands again.

Knock, knock, knock.

'Who is it?' Draco called to his bedroom door.

'who do you think? It's Prema' the girl said from the other side of the door.

'oh umm… can you hang on a second?' Draco asked,

'yeah fine' she said 'what's that hooting?'

'an owl got in' he told her

'oh Draco, I'll get it out.' she said. The door opened, the girl called Prema walked in, she caught the owl gently as soon as it slowed down and held it out of the window. Finally letting it go to fly away. Draco closed the window quickly and the owl came back to sit on the window sill. 'wow that owl must like you.' Prema told him, 'are you sure it doesn't have a letter for you?'

'uh… I'm sure… see it hasn't got a letter on it's leg.' he pointed at it through the window. Then looked towards Prema, she nodded and smiled at him when she saw him watching her, Draco had a feeling he was beginning to go red and was suddenly aware that his clothes were crimpled and his hair was a mess. Prema was one of Draco's few housemaids (she washes the clothes since the house-elves aren't allowed and was now specifically to help Draco) and by far the prettiest of them, she was the only one Draco would let into his room when he was thinking. Suddenly Draco realised he was staring and turned away. He walked towards his nearest mirror, his eyes now on her reflection which was watching him walk away. He picked up a comb and started to tidy his hair while still watching her, she had now leant against the window allowing the sun to outline her straight blonde hair and stunning hour-glass figure. She was a 20 year old, ex-Slytherin and had left Hogwarts just two years before, she had been working for his family ever since.

'so did you come up for a reason?' Draco asked,

'oh umm, yeah to check if you needed anything and to collect any washing you have'

'oh, ok…' Draco looked around the room, he never found anything to put into the basket 'umm anything in the basket, and you can have this top' he said

'uh, shall I turn around?' she asked uncomfortably

'your choice its just a top.' He told her shrugging, she busied herself by checking his washing basket, not making a particular effort to look away or to look at him. Draco lifted his top over his head, as it returned his vision Prema was watching him, looking at his torso. He smiled to himself before she realised he had seen her and handed over the shirt

'have you been working out?' she asked him impressed, Draco laughed and she blushed

'not really working out, but you know, I exercise a lot' he told her resisting the urge to wink at her.

'so what have you been doing in here all day? Running a zoo?' she asked him to change the subject

'what have I had in here? a dog, an owl, yeah sure I guess we could call _**that**_ a zoo' Draco joked 'by the way, I don't suppose you could bring up Kakapo while I write a letter could you?'

'of course, I'll be back soon' she said now leaving the room with what little washing there was, Draco never bothered to change yet, he closed the door a bit more and scribbled down a short but hopefully a reassuring note to Hermione:

'_Hermione_

_I'm absolutely fine, I don't know why I looked nervous,_

_Maybe you were imagining it?_

_Anything been bothering you lately?_

_You can talk to me, 'Mione_

_I have to go,_

_Prema's bringing up Kakapo to send this and she can't see who I'm writing to._

_Sorry that we have to keep this a secret :(_

_Draco x_

_P.S. please don't use that dreadful owl again, it was a pest, particularly because of it being Weaslebee's. It's only just left the window sill.'_

He folded up the letter and curled it into a small tube shape ready to tie onto his owls leg. Moments later Prema returned with Kakapo and Draco tied the letter to his leg with no questions asked by Prema. Eventually at Draco's order she covered her ears so Draco could tell the owl where to go and he threw him out of the window.


	3. Changing Relationships

Draco watched his owl fly into the distance towards the east and turned back to look at Prema, she uncovered her ears as he looked back at her and smiled.

'Anything else I could do for you?' she asked dutifully

'no thanks' he said, she turned to walk out of the door but before she reached it he asked 'have you got anything to do?' she turned back to face him.

'um well I have to ask your mother for anything she'd like me to do. But no'

'well if they haven't got much for you to do, you can come up and see me again later if you like' Prema blushed again and smiled before nodding and leaving the room. Draco laughed slightly to himself and began to search for a new shirt to wear.

x.X.x Later In The Burrow x.X.x

BANG! BANG! BANG!

'ARGH! I HATE THAT GHOUL!' Ron yelled at the roof as the pipes in the attic moved about. Hermione and Harry sat on the extra bed which was temporarily Harry's watching him and looking uncomfortable. Ron looked towards them both and Hermione quickly diverted her eyes to outside the window. 'sorry' Ron apologised 'it drives me mad living with that THING! It's honestly worst than Peeves at school! Do you want to go out to play quidditch?'

'Sure' Harry answered quickly, they looked towards Hermione who looked back at them

'oh you know I don't like to fly, but I'll take out a book to read while you play.' she smiled awkwardly.

'fine, your loss' Ron shrugged, 'come on' he and Harry stood up and went towards the door. Hermione cast another look at the grey sky outside, not much light to read. Suddenly she spotted a small black dot just above the horizon made by the nearby trees. She looked towards Harry and Ron again, who hadn't noticed but just reached a stop by the door.

'are you coming 'Mione?' Harry asked, she stood up quickly and walked to the door to stop right behind them

'sorry, yeah… I'll get my book, you two go ahead.' She followed them out of the room quickly and followed down the stairs. She opened the door to Ginny's room where she was staying and spotted Ginny on her bed.

'Harry and Ron are going to play quidditch if you want to join in' Hermione told her, hoping she'd leave. Luckily Ginny looked happy and nodded to Hermione as she left the room to catch up with Harry and Ron. Hermione closed the door silently as Ginny ran out of sight and ran to the window, swinging it open and leaning half out of the frame. The owl she had spotted upstairs was very close now and Hermione held out her arm for it to land, then as it did so she whipped it inside and closed the window.

Kokapo let Hermione remove the letter from his leg before hopping to the floor to look for mice, bugs or crumbs that may have been hanging about. Hermione unfolded the letter and read, then looking unsatisfied with the reply, sat down on her bed to reply:

'_Draco,_

_I'm sorry but I don't believe you. I am really worried, you looked almost sick. And I know you say that you have enough people worrying about you, your mother, father and even Prema but as your friend I know I have to try to help you if I can._

_I swear that nothing has been bothering me, I really saw this and it wasn't my imagination. I don't even care that we can't tell anyone we're friends as long as I can believe that you trust me. Do you trust me Draco? Because I know that I can talk to you, but I also know that **YOU CAN TALK TO ME!** Please be a friend and reply **properly**._

_Trust me._

_Hermione'_

She rolled up the parchment and put it almost robotically onto the owl's leg. Then crawling underneath the extra bed in this room, which was hers, she pulled out a packet of biscuits and took one out for the owl to eat before flying back.

'Peck him until he writes a letter at least this long' Hermione said to the owl, holding her hands several paragraphs worth of parchment apart. Finally she opened the window and the large owl hopped out, immediately breaking into flight. Hermione watched it go for a moment before closing the window, grabbing her book, and heading for the door.

As Hermione opened the door she got a surprise on the other side. The Weasley twins fell through the frame, and Hermione automatically put her hand on her hip.

'hear anything interesting?' she asked

'trying to get a boyfriend 'Mione?' Fred asked her happily

'no!' she said firmly 'don't you have something better to do than to listen at doors?'

'Peck him until he writes a letter at least this long' George said, in an attempt to sound like Hermione. 'did you mean this long Hermione?' he continued, stretching his arms as far as they could go and grinning.

'I was just writing to a friend!' Hermione told them sharply 'and I'm not in the mood for jokes' she pushed past them and made her way to the stairs as they stood shocked at her brusqueness. As she reached the boys and Ginny, she sat against the broom shed and listened to them argue that Ginny couldn't join in.

x.X.x In Malfoy Manor x.X.x

Draco had dressed and neatened his hair, he was laying spread out on his bed as there was a small knock on the door.

'yeah?' Draco called out, Prema poked her head around the door frame with a smile on her face; Draco smiled slightly as well.

'your mum didn't want anything' she told him 'she says it's up to you to dismiss me for the day when you no longer need me here'

'okay… you like shopping right?' he asked

'uhh yeah' she replied

'I forgot some things from Diagon Alley, will you get them for me?' Draco asked

'of course' Prema told him 'have you got a list?'

'yeah. Oh and one more thing?' Draco said, 'can you side-along apparate me there too? And then we could maybe get uhh, a coffee or ice cream or something together when we're done?'

'Draco, are you asking me out?' she asked shocked, Draco never replied except from a nod, she paused for a moment and carried on 'Look, Dray, I think you're gorgeous and I know that you know I think it. but I don't want to get in trouble, I work for your family.'

'come in and shut the door' Draco ordered, now sitting up seriously. Prema followed his orders dutifully, 'if this is what you're worried about then don't worry, really. My mother doesn't care what I'm up to, she's not going to find out unless the house elves tell her and that's only if they find out. If you're really worried we'll do this out of your work time, you can sign a date saying your going and then we can go to Diagon Alley, it just means you wont get paid for it… that might be a good thing anyway, otherwise it's like paying for you to be with me' Prema laughed

'you are cute Dray… but you know you're also almost four years younger than me'

'does it matter?' he asked, Draco signalled Prema over to sit by him, she considered for a moment then a grin growing wider over her face came to sit beside him.

'you're right. Sure I'll go out with you' she whispered, suddenly Draco put his hand on the side of her face and pulled her in to kiss him but she soon broke away.

'technically I was just paid to kiss you' she admitted awkwardly.

'fine, go sign out and meet me back here when you're done.' Draco smiled.

Prema ran off into the hall and down the stairs, pressing her wand upon the book that she's meant to sign out with, it recorded the time exactly and noted it into the correct box. Then she raced her way back up to Draco's room and went in without knocking. He was currently under the bed, he grabbed a list and slid out again, putting it safely into his pocket. She noticed him look her up and down, and felt self conscious. She looked down at what she was wearing, not exactly good enough for a date but it'd have to do, unless...

'Draco, I'm not really dressed for a date' she told him

'well it's nothing big' he said, 'but if you want you can go home to change first.' she grinned and considered, she had the perfect outfit.

'I'll be right back' she told him, as she apparated away. Draco suddenly wondered whether or not he was dressed well enough and searched his wardrobe for anything better than his polo shirt, he selected a blouse and replaced his top with it, leaving the top button undone so it wasn't too formal either. Seconds after he'd finished changing Prema apparated directly into his room with an inadvertent 'pop'. He turned away from the wardrobe to see her in a figure-hugging red summer dress, not too formal or casual either; he was happy he had changed.

'you look good' he smiled awkwardly at her, suddenly seeing her in another way to his house maid he realised he didn't know how to compliment her. 'shall we go?' she held out her hand to him and he took hold of it firmly. Almost embarrassedly, but happily Prema smiled and intertwined each of their fingers lovingly, and cast the spell. They were sucked through the, to Prema, familiar feeling of apparating and seconds later stumbled down into the leaky cauldron. The force of the landing made Draco all but trip into Prema, making him apologise repeatedly, which she found adorable.


	4. I want to talk

While Draco and Prima were enjoying their ice cream, now a lot more at ease talking to each other, Draco looked down Diagon Alley and spotted the side alley that he had been down just the day before, learning his mission. Suddenly he spotted the clock on the side of Gringotts bank and wondered whether Hermione had replied to his letter yet, he was worried that she wouldn't leave him alone if she really thought something was wrong, but he couldn't tell her the truth either.

'are you alright Draco?' Prema asked, he brought his mind back to her

'yeah sorry, I was just thinking if I had forgotten anything I had to do' he said

'okay, but watch out, your ice cream is about to melt over you'

Draco looked at his ice cream and noticed she was right, he licked off some of the melted ice cream and held it over the ash tray on the table just in case he missed some.

When they had finished their ice cream they decided to wander around the shops, although not to buy anything as Draco had spent the money he'd brought on ice cream and his school things and Frema wasn't carrying any as she was wearing her summer dress. Soon though they ran out of things to do and suggested they should go home. Once they had apparated to the gates of Malfoy manor they stopped to talk,

'thanks for coming out' Draco told Prema, awkwardly. 'do you, umm, want to go on a proper date some time?'

'Draco you're going back to Hogwarts soon' she reminded him

'okay, well we can go out on one of the Hogsmeade weekends?' he suggested, 'the first time you can apparate to Hogsmeade, and as soon as I've learnt to apparate I'll sneak away to apparate to you'

'I don't want to get you in trouble' she said

'I wont get in trouble, promise. It looks like it's going to rain we better get home before we get soaked.'

'alright' she said, disappointed now 'I'll see you tomorrow Draco' Then when Draco never replied apart from a smile she disapparated, and Draco went directly to his room. As soon as he opened the door he heard a hoot and his mind rushed back to Hermione and her letters. He closed the door and rushed over to the owl sitting on his desk. Then read the letter attached to it's leg

'_Draco,_

_I'm sorry but I don't believe you. I am really worried, you looked almost sick. And I know you say that you have enough people worrying about you, your mother, father and even Prema but as your friend I know I have to try to help you if I can._

_I swear that nothing has been bothering me, I really saw this and it wasn't my imagination. I don't even care that we can't tell anyone we're friends as long as I can believe that you trust me. Do you trust me Draco? Because I know that I can talk to you, but I also know that **YOU CAN TALK TO ME!** Please be a friend and reply **properly**._

_Trust me._

_Hermione'_

He considered how to reply as he sat down at his desk, unrolling a spare piece of parchment and collecting his ink and quill.

_'Hermione,_

_I do trust you. I promise. But I can't say why I looked worried.'_

He screwed up the letter and threw it in the bin, and started again.

_'Hermione,_

_I promise I do trust you'_

'no!' he exclaimed and threw it in the bin again, 'maybe I should just lie.'

_'Hermione,_

_I do trust you, I promise, you may have figured out what you saw in me if you think I may have looked ill as well as worried. I've been in bed ill all day today, I suppose I may have had the starts of it affecting me yesterday without realising._

_I'm sorry if I sounded like I was accusing you of hiding something._

_Draco'_

He rolled up the parchment as usual, but unusually Kakapo his owl began nipping at his knuckles and refuses the letter to her leg.

'whats up with you silly bird?' Draco asked annoyed 'ouch!' Kakapo bit the back of his hand just behind the knuckle, making Draco pull his hand away. Suddenly he clued on to what Hermione had done. He opened up the parchment and dipped his quill in some more ink,

_'Then again Hermione, have you been telling Kakapo to bite me until I wrote enough? She's being unusually vicious and I haven't got anything else to write._

_I suppose I could tell you that I'm now going out with Prema, she agreed to go on a date with me during the Hogsmeade weekends at school.'_

'is this enough?' Draco asked his owl. Kakapo hooted happily.

_'Okay, Kakapo says this is enough. Please don't tell her to bite me again, my hand is bleeding._

_Draco'_

He rolled up the parchment and this time successfully put it onto the owls leg, sending her flying quickly out of the window. Just 3 hours later Kakapo returned without a reply, this time hungry and begging for food. Draco fed her and ordered a house elf to take her to the open cage in the attic. At least his letter had been removed from her leg, so he knows Hermione got it. But even Draco Malfoy couldn't help but question why she hadn't written back.

'maybe she doesn't want to bother me if I'm ill' he thought 'or she felt bad for making my hand bleed, or for questioning me so much, maybe she just doesn't know what to say any more, a first for Hermione... Or maybe she just doesn't believe me.' as the last possibility came to mind he kicked his wall, knowing this was the most likely, and now he's going to have to deal with it face on when he saw her at school.

Neither Hermione or Draco wrote to one another for the rest of the summer holidays and before either of them knew it they were passing through the wall to platform nine and three quarters.

x.X.x With Hermione x.X.x

'Oh I'm so worried that I haven't revised enough this summer, my skills are going to be terrible. You guys could probably beat me at the new spells' Hermione complained

'Yes! At last!' Ron said 'I always knew my talent was underestimated. I was destined for greatness, you always just overshone it'

'well it's about time you gave us a shot Hermione' Harry laughed

'forget them' Ginny said quietly on the other side of her, 'you'll be great, as usual' they took it in turns to pass through the wall, the twins, Harry and Ron, Hermione and Ginny then Mr and Mrs Weasley. As soon as Hermione got to other side she checked her bags were out of the way and made away from the entrance. She soon spotted Draco, who looked over to her too, but carried on as if he hadn't seen her as he was with his cronies and his mother. As Hermione watched Draco's mother was tapped on the shoulder by another parent and so she turned away from her son to talk. Immidiately after Draco leant in to whisper to Crabbe and Goyle then nodded in the direction of Harry; Hermione wondered what they were talking about but barely had a moment to consider it before Ginny interrupted her thoughts.

'Mum and Dad's here, come on lets find a carriage' she stopped for a moment and turned to Hermione. 'Come on 'Mione! What are you waiting for?' Hermione picked up her bag and followed Ginny to a carriage, and the twins helped lift the luggage onto the train. While everyone was focussed on lifting the twins bags, which were full to the brim, very heavy and probably full of prank items rather than anything useful, Hermione pulled a small piece of parchment and a quill from her pocket and scribbled a note imagining that as usual, at some point Draco will try to bother Harry, either on the train or on the platform, and she wanted to be ready when he did. Suddenly the others turned back to her, she hid the parchment quickly in her pocket.

'thanks for helping Mione' Ginny laughed

'sorry' she replied 'I was uh, distracted'

'by what?' she asked

'um, nothing, I just lost my train of thought' Hermione thought up quickly. 'come on, lets get the rest of our stuff on board before it turns 11.'

They finished putting their bags onto the train just in time and when the whistle of the train blew, most other than themselves were on the train. Quickly they leapt on after their bags and slammed the door closed just as they started to move. They waved goodbye to Mr and Mrs Weasley through the window and as soon as they were out of sight the twins left to find Lee Jordan and Ginny left to find her own friends, leaving the trio to find an empty carriage.

When they finally did find a carriage, and had stored their bags Harry checked the corridor outside and shut the door firmly, the way he did when he was going to tell the others something secret. Hermione looked up at him, wondering what he had to say. However it wasn't the topic she would have hoped for, or particularly secret, infact they had discussed it just the day before.

'I can't stop thinking about Diagon alley.'

'Harry, forget about it. It was probably nothing' Hermione told him

'so what was Draco doing with that weird-looking cabinet?' Harry inquired 'and were all those people? Don't you see? It was a ceremony, an initiation.'

'stop it, Harry. I know where you're going with this' Hermione said sternly. Secretly she was suspicious too, but she couldn't say it out loud, Draco was her friend and she didn't _**want**_ it to be true.

'It's happened! He's one of them!' Harry insisted, just as firmly

'One of what?' Ron asked, he had the air of impatience now, and clearly wasn't keeping up with the conversation. So Hermione filled him in,

'Harry is under the impression that Draco Malfoy is now a Death Eater'

'You're barking!' Ron said, amused, now cottoning onto the conversation 'what would you-know-who want with a sod like Malfoy?'

'Well then what's he doing in Borgin and Burkes? Browsing for furniture?' Harry asked, for a moment Hermione was happy to be out of the conversation she couldn't discuss it for much longer and hoped Ron would wrap it up for her.

'It's a creepy shop. He's a creepy bloke' Ron summarised

'look!' Harry insisted 'his _**father**_ is a Death Eater. It only makes sense! Anyway, Hermione saw it with her own eyes'

'I told you, I don't know what I saw' Hermione insisted back, surely this would wrap up the conversation?

'I need some air' Harry said, he reached up and grabbed something from his bag and left. Hermione guessed what it was, the invisibility cloak, but thought that he'd at least be under cover so she wouldn't have to worry about him too much, anyway Draco was still on her mind.

Once Harry had shut the door again, Ron turned to Hermione.

'I can't believe he thinks Malfoy is a Death Eater' Ron said, slightly amusedly 'though I suppose he has a point about his dad being one' he said

'do you think they'd be doing a Death Eater initiation in the middle of the day in Knockturn Alley while there's a huge search for Death Eaters and so many people school shopping?' Hermione replied 'especially with so many people in one place. If it was an initiation those people would _**also**_ be Death Eaters, and why would they want so many in one place? They could've been found, I mean if we had been quicker, and I hadn't fallen from the roof and made a noise, we could've reported them and had them all caught. It'd be too risky for Death Eaters to be there like that.'

'uh, yeah, you have a point too' Ron said. Suddenly there was a knock on the door, Hermione span around to face it, afraid of who had overheard.

'anything from the trolley dears?' the trolley woman mouthed through the door, pointing at the trolley, unable to be heard, Hermione breathed a sigh of relief you couldn't hear through the closed door, unless you were talking loud and she hadn't been, luckily.

x.X.x With Draco x.X.x

Suddenly the cabin went dark, Draco jumped up from his seat and started trying to see through the black. There was too much shouting to hear anything moving, and it was impossible to see anybody moving at all. He couldn't even make out the palm of his own hands.

'What was that? Blaise?' Draco asked urgently

'don't know' he said, somewhere behind him. Draco heard another shuffle next to where Blaise's voice had come from.

'Relax boys, it's probably just a first year messing around' Pansy's voice said calmly. Draco relaxed a little, and vision returned to the cabin. 'Come on Draco, sit down. We'll be at Hogwarts soon' Draco turned to face her, both Pansy and Blaise were standing, Blaise slightly in the walkway too, they both sat down as Pansy finished talking, and Draco followed suit.

'Hogwarts, what a pathetic excuse for a school.' Draco said angrily 'I'd pitch myself off the Astronomy Tower if I had to continue for another two years'

'what's that supposed to mean?' Pansy asked,

'lets just say I don't think you'll see me wasting my time in charms class next year.' Blaise sniggered suddenly, making Draco even more annoyed 'amused Blaise?' he asked, Blaise looked up at him but never replied. 'we'll see just who's laughing in the end' Draco looked up, he suddenly saw the bag move above them in the baggage holder. Then the train shuddered to a holt, Pansy was first up, she grabbed her bag, and passed Blaise his, then she reached towards Draco's too.

'leave it' he said 'you two go on, I want to check something'

x.X.x with Hermione x.X.x

'where's Harry?' Hermione asked

'probably already on the platform' Ron told her and started to walk away. Hermione grabbed Harry's bag and followed onto the platform, Harry wasn't around and as she looked into the train she couldn't see him through any of the windows. She spotted Pansy, Blaise, Crabbe and Goyle leaving their carriage alone which had the curtains drawn on every window. Hermione could only assume that Draco was still inside, as well as Harry.

'Come on 'Mione' Ron said, heading towards the thestral drawn carriages. She hovered for a moment,

'actually Ron, I'm going to stay a moment, to make sure Harry is off the train.' Hermione said, Ron left without thinking more about it. Hermione shuffled her feet. She checked every window there was, just one carriage along Luna was checking her things, wearing her obscene spectra-specs. She then picked up her things and left the compartment, walking towards the carriage with all the closed windows. Suddenly a door swung open and as Hermione span to look, she saw Draco leaving. She flashed a look at the hidden carriage again, wondering if Harry would appear anywhere, or if he was hurt. She noticed Luna was close to the carriage now. If Harry was in there, she'd help or stall him. Hermione walked towards the Thestral drawn carriages, and stopped in the archway of the train station. There was one carriage left. Draco caught up with her and Hermione moved from the shadows, but Draco barely moved.

'lets share a carriage' she said, 'I want to talk'


	5. The First Night

The path through Hogsmeade and towards Hogwarts was silent, apart from the singular, final carriage that made its way towards the school with just two passengers. Hermione and Draco sat directly opposite to each other on the carriage and the only movement there was on board was the occasional moment when Hermione would lean forward, keeping Draco's attention and insisting that he participated in the conversation. However, let's not get ahead of ourselves; back in Hogsmeade station:

"How is Prema?" Hermione began the conversation lightly as the carriage began to move out of Hogsmeade station. She was looking behind her, watching the train; one carriage door was open, where Draco had just left the train but there was clear movement inside the carriage now, as the blinds had suddenly all opened and Luna could be seen pointing her wand at the floor. Hermione quickly looked towards Draco, reassured about Harry but Draco followed her line of vision. So Hermione abandoned her first attempt at conversation "I know what you done, Draco, to Harry I mean" relief spread over Draco's face as Hermione added the last words to her statement, making her all the more suspicious. "You never used to do such drastic things." she added. Draco remained silent, Hermione gave up "I saw you in Borgin and Burkes!" she whispered at him, now sounding very annoyed. This finally attracted Draco's attention,

"This is what all those questions were about in the letters?" Draco asked quietly, still chilled, as he always seemed to be, "Mum wanted to look at some cursed locket she had seen in there. What's the problem?" Hermione looked towards her feet and shuffled them slightly.

"The problem is that I know that you're lying," she said simply "if it was that simple why would you lie about being ill?"

"I was ill" Draco lied again "That was why I was supposedly looking worried remember? That's nothing to do with why I was in Borgin and Burkes"

"And you went on a date while ill?" Hermione asked intuitively, "it was all in the same day that you told me you were ill _**and **_that you were dating Prema. Had you been dating before that you would have mentioned it in Flourish and Blotts."

"I didn't want to make you jealous." Draco said

"I'm not" Hermione protested, "Draco; you were telling me about how you were considering asking her out weeks ago. If you thought I'd be jealous why would you tell me that and not that you were dating? At least with the latter it could have been her who asked you"

"Hermione, lay off" Draco snapped, "I'm the Slytherin here. When I decide not to tell people things it's for a reason" He looked towards the Great Lake that they were now approaching and stood up.

"What are you doing?" Hermione asked

"Getting out, we can't turn up near the castle together Hermione. People don't know how to keep secrets in Hogwarts" and with that he stepped onto the steps at the back of the carriage and jumped off. At first, he waited slightly off the path to let Hermione's carriage get a little further ahead, before beginning his way towards the castle on foot. On the carriage, Hermione just dropped her head into her hands, frustrated, and started to think of lies to tell Ron when she arrived at the castle without Harry.

As she reached the castle gates, she was stopped, searched and asked for her name.

"Hermione Granger" she told Professor Flitwick, and was sent on her way up to the castle. She slowed down as she reached the stairs up to the Great Hall; it was already lined with luggage from everybody ahead of her. Hermione dropped hers and Harry's bags down at the bottom of the staircase near the end of the queue, less than a second later she heard Professor McGonagall's voice from the top of the staircase:

"Please follow me" The sorting ceremony was clearly about to begin, Hermione gasped and ran towards the opposite wall, making sure that McGonagall couldn't see her as she moved up the stairs. As she reached the bend in the staircase, she saw that McGonagall had already opened the massive golden doors to the Great Hall and had already lead most of the students inside. Quickly she caught up to just a couple of steps behind the last of the first years and slipped into the hall as everybody's attention was diverted to the group walking down the centre of the hall. Hermione passed along the side of the tables and down the wall until she reached Ginny and Ron who barely noticed her arriving. Hermione slipped onto the bench beside Ron and watched the sorting ceremony as if nothing was happening.

"Kelly, Alexia" McGonagall read from the parchment, as a young boy went up to the stool at the front of the hall the huge doors at the back opened slightly and another person slipped into the hall, heading for the table beside Gryffindors, Hermione watched Draco sit down, just as the sorting hat yelled out 'RAVENCLAW!'

The group of first-years at the front of the hall slowly thinned more and more and as it did so even Hermione began to worry about Harry. What if Luna hadn't found him? What would happen if Harry was so injured that they couldn't get back? Hermione never knew the details to what Draco had done to Harry and Luna's magic was still less practised than Draco's, she may not know the counter spell to whatever he used.

What if each of them were on their way back to London at this very moment?

"Wattlington, Samantha" McGonagall read and the last first-year student at the front of the hall went up to have the sorting hat placed on her head. Ginny too, by this point was getting fidgety in her seat, looking as if she wanted to talk to Hermione, she kept leaning slightly over the table, noticing that people saw her and then thinking twice, leant back to look at the doors.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" yelled the hat, the girl called Samantha sat at the Hufflepuff table while cheering exploded from it,

"Where is he?" Ginny hissed at Hermione so that the cheering covered her speech, she then leant back as the cheering faded and began her routine again: lean forward, lean back, look at the door, lean forward, lean back, look at the door. At the front of the hall Dumbledore stood up and simply clapped his hands once, food suddenly appeared entirely along the each of the four tables and conversation started across the hall. Ginny looked as if she was being tortured.

"Hermione?" she asked, demanding information without forming a sentence.

"Malfoy got off of the train last, I wanted to avoid him and there was no sign of anybody still on board. I thought I'd get in trouble if I was late" Hermione lied "especially if it turned out Harry was ahead and here before me, I didn't think I could risk it. I thought he'd be here" if nothing else the worry in Hermione's voice was real. Hermione turned to ask Ron if there was any sign of Harry while he was coming up to the castle, although she knew the answer, the question however was never asked as she saw him helping himself to food as if nothing was going on. Anger built up inside Hermione, but she never acted, she knew Harry was still outside somewhere, if not still on the train. If he wasn't here by the end of the feast, she was telling the Professors and she was going to confront Draco. Hermione looked over at Draco, he was sitting among his friends, staring at the front of the hall, motionless and Hermione _**knew**_ he was definitely worried about something. The thought of his lies abruptly lead Hermione's emotions to bubble over and she turned around, book in hand and hit Ron hard on his shoulder repeatedly.

"Will you stop eating!" she cried at him "your best friend is missing!"

"Oi! Turn around you lunatic" Ron complained, shocked at her sudden change in behaviour. Hermione and Ginny both span around and saw Harry entering the hall with Luna, they breathed a sigh of relief.

"He's covered in blood again. Why is it he's always covered in blood?" Ginny observed

"Looks like its his own this time" Hermione told her. For the rest of the feast it almost seemed, a normal year at Hogwarts. However, everybody in the hall knew, it was anything but normal.

The next morning, Hermione woke from a rough dream where she was forced to do a deed for the dark lord and when she was found out, she was locked in Azkaban, the last thing she had seen before waking up was a dementor reaching to lift up it's hood about to perform the kiss. She woke moments before seeing the dementor's jaw and was in an immediate state of panic as she shot to a sitting position in her bed. She looked around at her drawn curtains surrounding her bed and relaxed slightly.

"who screamed?" Lavender's voice moaned from somewhere on the opposite side of the curtain, Hermione didn't answer, she just wanted to get out of bed and go for a shower and she couldn't stand Lavender's moaning, not today.

"it wasn't me, maybe it was Hermione" Parvati's voice answered her, Hermione started to breathe heavily and loudly so the others would think she was still asleep and soon after they had calmed down risked a peak outside of her bed curtains. The other beds in the room also had the curtains closed so she grabbed her wash bag and uniform, put on her dressing gown and silently headed for the prefect girl's bathroom.

x.X.x Meanwhile x.X.x

Draco woke up early, impatient and scared, he climbed out of bed and threw on his new school uniform before heading towards the seventh floor. He looked around for a familiar tapestry on the wall, marking the room of requirements, he knew roughly where he was going due to being on the 'Inquisitorial Squad' in the previous year however he still needed to remind himself before his tasks really _**needed**_ to start. He found the tapestry he was looking for turned toward the wall opposite, closed his eyes and thought hard about what he wanted to find, as he had been instructed by his aunt. He then opened his eyes and began pacing in front of the wall, the thoughts still fixed in his mind. Suddenly the wall began to scrape and creak, Draco looked up as two massive doors appeared in front of him. Draco found himself wanting to hold onto something with the looming fear of his tasks ahead and his fingers fumbled around as if looking for something to hold.

Eventually, realising that his task never actually started for a couple of weeks Draco clenched his searching fingers into a fist on either side of his torso and, pushing open the doors, entered the humongous room. He saw piles of things: rubbish, furniture, boxes and common everyday wizarding items, piled in every inch of the room apart from small walkways between the things. Draco snooped around for a while, opening the boxes and trying out the furniture, throwing enchanted paper airplanes and playing enchanted harps. Soon though, while weaving in between walkway to walkway, and clambering over towers of useless items he found a tall cabinet, he recognised it immediately, even with a cloth thrown messily over the top. It was identical to the one at Borgin and Burkes. He held out one hand and threw the cloth from the top, then reached out to touch the cabinet, the markings were also identical to the cabinet in Borgin and Burkes They flowed the same way, coldly under his fingers like ice, slippery yet solid, cold yet strong. He wished more than anything at that moment to be able to crush it like an ice cube and end what was being forced upon him. He wished he could say there was no cabinet here, lie and bluff until he managed to free himself from responsibility, like only a Slytherin really could, but he couldn't as the dark lord was one step ahead, he was _always_ one step ahead. His father was counting on him, his mother too, and his aunts and uncles and cousins, they were counting on him to prove himself, to make up for Lucius' failure to get the Malfoy name the honour it deserved, the honour that had been built up throughout the centuries. He couldn't do it, he told himself, Draco turned on his heel and heady straight for the doors, he felt sick as his stomach twisted and turned with nerves. He reached the seventh floor bathrooms, the first he found, and headed inside. Draco sent bombarding curses at every door, and each flung open without any struggle. He was alone.


End file.
